DEAR News Of The Area, IN this whole energy discussion, there seems to be one cost we hear little about, that is the cost to the environment. With renewables, thousands of hectares of wilderness and bushland, including wildlife habitat, have been and will continue to be, cleared for wind farms, solar farms

DEAR News Of The Area MR Martin Smith's letter (NOTA 5/07/24) adds little to the nuclear debate but says more about his political affiliations. His reference to the CSIRO being "Australia's truly independent experts" is puzzling. As this organisation is funded by the government it cannot be truly independent. He suggests that the

DEAR News Of The Area, The Federal Opposition often boasts that nuclear reactors supposedly operate for 80 to 100 years. In actual fact, no nuclear reactor has ever lasted more than 60 years. The average age of currently operating plants is only 32 years. The average age of 212 shutdown nuclear reactors in

DEAR News Of The Area, FOR the umpteenth time this racing season the Coffs races scheduled last week were postponed several days early, due to water on the track. It appeared that the races were rescheduled for this Saturday and with sunny warm days for the rest of the week I

DEAR News Of The Area, I WRITE in support of Louise Cranny, letter writer to NOTA on 12 July 2024 (The Australian Monopoly Game). She wrote about our society’s system of winners and losers and the inbuilt unfairness of housing in particular. How can we sit in silence and apathy while hundreds

DEAR News Of The Area, I WELCOME the recent announcement of a Senate inquiry into offshore wind, thanks to the efforts of Senator Ross Cadell. It is widely known within our community that we have had a lack of consultation and engagement; the proposal came as a surprise and shock to many.

THE supply of reliable power in Australia has become a political minefield that has provided our major political parties with two clearly different objectives. On one hand the Government has decided that “renewables only” is their way of providing electric power for the future. The opposition is taking a longer-term view by

ANYONE who takes an interest in local history would know exactly what I mean when I say that it is very frustrating when a photograph lands on your desk and you have no idea of its origin. Such is the case with the photos on display. I have absolutely no

DEAR News Of The Area, WHEN I hear people complain about the cost of living crisis I wonder how many of them take note of the surcharges charged by some businesses? Electronic transactions are convenient, as demonstrated by our usage, and are the cheapest form of transaction. Cheques are prohibitively expensive which is

THE Federal Government’s ‘Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport’ committee’s inquiry report has just been presented after fifteen months of deliberation. The inquiry was chaired by the National Party Senator Matt Canavan. Much of its hearings were held in rural and regional areas due to the public angst at banks closing